


you bloom under kindness, don't you?

by Princex_N



Series: mint and wool sweater and vinyl car seat [6]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Autistic Blue, Autistic Gansey, Drabble, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Gift Giving, Weighted Vests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 07:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12103500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princex_N/pseuds/Princex_N
Summary: Blue makes Gansey a "Feel Better" gift. He's more willing to accept it than she would have thought.





	you bloom under kindness, don't you?

**Author's Note:**

> i started writing this like,, weeks ago. college happened. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Blue's fingers skitter nervously over the package in her hands as she waits for someone to answer the door for her. As much as she wants to be certain that this is a good idea, she can't quite push down the anxiety telling her that she's wrong for even considering that this could work. 

Blue has never had many friends in the past. There were reasons for that. 

She almost considers just turning around and leaving before anyone comes, to avoid all of this and forget that she'd even tried. But then the door opens, and Gansey is standing there looking at her, and there's really no doing back now. 

There had been words lined up and practiced, all ready to explain why she's here and what she's brought with her, but they all fall straight out of her head the moment Gansey's eyes fall on her, and she has no back up plan to speak of. She has to explain it, she needs to say something. She pushes the package into Gansey's arms and after a moment, says, "Open it." 

Nailed it. 

Gansey blinks at her uncomprehendingly. "Pardon?" he asks after a moment, his voice is hoarse like he hasn't spoken a lot recently. 

Blue realizes that she's still standing on the porch, and walks past him into the building, her hand flapping by her thigh. This would be a good time to reorganize her words into something more helpful, but all she says is, "Open it," falling back on the simplicity of repetition instead. Her eyes search the room for something to look at, anything that isn't the still-fading bruise on Gansey's cheek. "It's a gift," she manages to add. 

He closes the door like an afterthought, his eyes boring down into the package in his hands. "For what?" he asks as Blue is trying not to think about how awful the homemade brown paper bag wrapping looks in contrast to his expensive looking shirt. Gansey doesn't really care about that sort of thing, she reminds herself, she doesn't have to worry about how the wrapping paper will be received. 

It's the reasoning behind it that she'll have to worry about. 

"A Feel Better present," she sighs. 

She does not miss the way that Gansey stiffens. The paper bad crinkles noisily in his hands as his fingers tighten around it. 

Blue knew that he might not take it well. He doesn't appreciate fuss, and he hadn't been happy that all of the stuff with his parents had come out. He had been with Adam when the other boy called to tell her what had happened over the break. Adam had said that he'd been upset, but hadn't wanted her to be left in the dark. 

Upset was probably an understatement, it probably still is. But Blue is here anyway. 

She is not good with things like comforting other people. She knows the theory behind it, but her words are either inappropriate or inadequate. Blue doesn't know what to say, she doesn't know how to help, and she hates herself for it. 

So, she makes things instead, and hopes that they say all of the things that her mouth cannot. 

"It's really not necessary," Gansey protests, the way that she'd expected he would. 

"Open it," she says a third time. She doesn't know how to explain any other way. 

He hesitates, but finally gives in, peeling the stickers off of the seams of the wrapping, like he doesn't want to tear any of them. 

The vest comes free of the paper easily, and Blue watches his eyebrows furrow in confusion at the sight of it, and at the weighted beanbags that she'd sewn into the interior. 

"Try it on," she tells him. She already knows that it will fit him, but she wants to make sure, and him figuring it out for himself will be easier than her trying to explain it. 

He looks at her hesitantly, as if confirming that this is what he's really meant to do, before pulling it on over his shirt. His hair gets mussed by the collar, and Blue pulls on the lapels of her own vest as he adjusts his and blinks at the weight of it. 

"Do you like it?" she asks nervously, rocking from heel to toe. 

It's made to look like one of the ones he wears as part of his school uniform. She'd made it out of one of Ronan's vests, which he'd given to her to use since he never actually wears them. She'd taken great care to make sure that the weights don't warp the look on the vest in any way, so that Gansey can wear it and not have to worry about people noticing and asking questions that he doesn't want to answer. Part of her had been tempted to make him a vest that resembled hers, but she figured that he would appreciate one like this more. 

A grin spreads across Gansey's face, and Blue's own facial muscles mimic the expression instinctively. 

"It's  _spectacular_ ," he says, bouncing up on his toes briefly. She watches his fingers flutter for a moment before he stops, and she takes it as a victory that he's happy enough with her gift to slip up even that much. She doesn't want to push too much when it comes to these things, but that doesn't mean she can't be happy when she sees him being more  _himself_ than his parents wanted him to be. 

"Good," she says. "You're already wearing it, so that means you can't give it back." 

She tries to make sure that she puts enough Joking into her tone, because she never really seems to get that right. But he smirks and says, "To be honest, I don't think I'd really want to give it up," and Blue could sigh in relief because she didn't get it wrong. She didn't make things worse. 

And there are other things she could says, things that she almost wants to say. "Sorry your parents are assholes," and "You have us so you don't need them anyway," and "I wish I could take back what they did to you," but she keeps her mouth shut. She doesn't know if she could get saying those things right, and doesn't know if he would appreciate them even if she could. 

But it's okay. She doesn't have to. 

That's what the gift is for after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still working on the fic with Henry. Having trouble determining a Setting for it, but I'm hoping to have it posted soon!  
> [my tumblr](http://www.princex-n.tumblr.com)


End file.
